The Boy and The princess [4]—Fairytale

 "Son, I'm sorry for all the awful things I did to you, I really am… I was just under so much stress that I—"

Keith's fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. His teeth ground together, a low, guttural growl escaping his throat. 

"Just save it. Because I don't want to hear it. Get this through your skull: I will never be your son again, period. Why can't you just accept that?!"

"Because I want you to be your mother again, Keith!" his mother raved, a pained edge to her voice, the sound brittle and strained. "I know I've wronged you, and that I'm the one to blame for everything. And that's why I keep coming to you like this, because I want to fix things, and also because… I want us to be a family again. Please, Keith, please forgive me."

Tears streamed down her face, her eyelids growing puffy and red. Keith's body trembled with a suppressed rage and a pain so profound it threatened to consume him. 

His face was a stoic mask, but a fierce battle raged beneath the surface. Akira, standing beside him, watched the heartbreaking display. 

Her eyes, filled with sympathy for his mother's tears, shifted to Keith, a shadow of worry clouding her features. She reached for his shaking hand, her smaller hands enveloping his.

His mother's gaze, swollen with tears, landed on their joined hands. The mask of sorrow shattered, replaced by an expression of cold fury. 

Her voice became a hollow whisper that cut through the tension. "Is it you?! Are you the one who's driving a rift between me and my son?! Answer me, dammit!!" The venomous tone dripped from her words, each one a sharp, stinging accusation.

Keith's fury boiled over. "Don't talk to her like that!!! You have no right to take that tone with her!!! Leave her out of this!!" The words erupted from his throat, raw and full of fire.

Her smile was thin, edged with madness. "She's the reason why you can't forgive me, isn't she? She's the one who's getting in the way of our happiness."

"Whaaat... are you talking about? Have you gone insane?"

A glint of metal caught the light as his mother rummaged through her bag. She pulled out a small pocket knife, the blade glinting ominously as she flicked it open. Her eyes, filled with a malevolent, inhuman gleam, fixed on Akira.

"You bitch, you're the reason the reason the reason the reason the reason! My son and I can't be a happy family!" 

The words bled into a frantic, insane chorus, each repetition stripping away another layer of her sanity. Akira's eyes widened with shock and terror, while Keith's confusion turned to cold dread.

"You're corrupting my son! I should just kill you where you stand, as soon as you's gone my son will come back back back back, back to me! Now drop dead!!!"

Dropping her bag, she lunged forward, the knife a desperate extension of her rage. 

Time seemed to distort, stretching and slowing. Keith saw her move, his fear for Akira's life a jolt of pure adrenaline. He pushed past her, putting himself between his mother and Akira.

His mother stumbled, her lunge blocked. Her eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed in renewed fury. "Why would you risk your life for some girl. She's the—"

Keith stood firm, shielding Akira with his body, his wound bleeding. "She's not the problem. You are."

His mother's face contorted, a silent scream of rage and despair. She dropped the knife, the clatter on the ground echoing the shattering of any hope of reconciliation. She turned and fled, her footsteps pounding away into the darkness.

"K-e-i-t-h?" Akira's voice was a whisper of devastated disbelief.

Keith turned to face her, his body trembling. He reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face in her hair. "It's okay," he murmured, the words muffled. "You're okay, we're okay." Akira clung to him, tears streaming down her face, their shared relief and pain mingling in the quiet aftermath of the storm.

*****

[BEEP! BEEP! BEEP…]

The piercing shrill of his alarm tore Keith from his nightmare. His eyes snapped open, and he shot up in bed, his heart hammering against his ribs.

Tears streamed down his face, and he raised a hand to wipe them away. The chilling memory of his dream, the terror of his mother's face and the feel of the knife, was still fresh in his mind.

He got out of bed, the nightmare clinging to him like a phantom limb. He walked out of his room, his eyes immediately going to Sophia's door.

The events of yesterday's confession and rejection flooded his mind, momentarily eclipsing the horror of the dream. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog.

He walked to her door and knocked, a soft, respectful Rap! Rap! No answer. He knocked again, a little louder this time. Still nothing. Concern creased his brow.

"Sophia, are you in there? You should wake up, or else you'll be late for school."

A piece of paper slid under the door, a silent rejection. The note was simple: "I'm not going to school today". 

Keith stared at the note, his gut clenching. He knew her too well to believe such a flimsy excuse. He knew how much she loved being out and about, especially at school.

"Sophia, is something wrong? If so, please tell me."

A long silence followed, broken only by a muffled, distant voice that sounded like it was coming from inside a bottle. "I'm fine, just go to school. Forget about me, I'm fine."

"I wish you wouldn't tell me such an obvious lie. I know you, Sophia. And you know better than me that you like being around others. Especially at school, so please tell me what's wrong—"

"Nothing's wrong, okay! I told you I'm fi—No, no, I… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you, I—"

"It's about what happened yesterday, isn't it?"

"....."

"So I'm right."

The silence stretched on, thick and heavy. Keith and Sophia remained on opposite sides of the door, their unspoken emotions filling the void. Keith knocked again, his touch gentle and fast.

"Hey, Sophia. Can I tell you a story?"

"....."

"I'll take that silence as a yes."

Keith cleared his throat, taking a deep, slow breath before he began. "This is going to be a fairytale though, so don't expect it to be too interesting." His voice dropped to a low, melodic tone, a calming tide in the tense silence.

"Once upon a time, there was a young boy who played in the forest all by himself. This boy was quite the lonely fellow, as he only found comfort in being by himself. But one day, all of that changed when he met this beautiful blonde princess who saved him from drowning in a river."

As Keith spoke, a soft smile played on his lips, and his eyes, though fixed on the door, seemed to glow with a distant emotion.

"Ever since the princess saved the boy, he found himself idolizing her," Keith chuckled softly, scratching his cheek. "Although, the princess would give him orders as if he were her butler. She gave him orders like: 'Call me The Butterfly Maiden' or 'You shall address me as The Butterfly Princess' or 'Follow me, my loyal servant.' The boy found these orders quite annoying, but even so, he had fun because even though his savior was a little demanding, it didn't change that she was his savior and his first friend. Someone he grew to care for deeply."

On the other side of the door, Sophia rose from her spot on the edge of the bed and sat on the floor, her ear pressed against the wood. Every word Keith spoke was a familiar echo of her childhood, and she listened intently, captivated by his voice.

"After a while, the boy finally realized that he felt something deeper for her. Something he hadn't felt before. The boy acknowledged this feeling as—love."

A sharp, quiet gasp escaped Sophia's lips. Her eyes widened, unable to believe what she was hearing.

"After coming to this realization, the boy found himself looking forward to spending each day with her. Nothing else mattered. Until his mother told him they were moving to Japan."

Keith's voice faltered. He leaned against the door, his hand resting flat against the wood, his face a mixture of a sad smile and a pained expression.

"Of course, the boy was happy that he would get to live with his dad instead of seeing him every once in a while, but… what about her? he thought. He agonized over the thought of leaving her behind..."

He paused, folding his arms. His smile, already fragile, wavered slightly. "Until he decided that he was going to confess to her. But with only a week left, he couldn't get the courage to confess. He had countless chances to tell her, but he didn't. He was too much of a chicken to do something so bold so suddenly."

Keith's brow furrowed, a genuine frown replacing his pained smile. 

"But thanks to his cowardice, he was only left with one day to tell her. This time he was sure he was going to do it. He went to her house only to find that she wasn't there; she had gone shopping with her dad." 

Keith paused, then he sighed quietly. 

"The boy's heart shattered. That was the last chance he was gonna get. He went home, his heart broken to pieces. He entered his room and began to wallow. As a way of mending his broken heart, the boy decided to forget the feelings he had for the princess along with the memory of her altogether. This mortified the boy, but it was the only way. He moved to Japan and he never saw her again. The End."

Keith stopped leaning on the door, his hand remaining on the wood. His face held a fragile mix of a sad smile and a pained expression.

"I know that this probably won't help with anything, but… I'm actually the 'boy' in this story, and you are the 'princess.' And you were my first love, Sophia. You were the girl of my dreams, but after I moved… I was convinced that I'd never see you again…" 

His voice softened to a gently sad tone, his hand clenching against the door.

"So in order to spare myself from the depression, I chose to bury my feelings for you… What I'm trying to say here is that at some point, I was also in love with you, and if things had worked out differently, you and I could have been together. But, I guess, fate had other plans. Sophia, listen, you are important to me, you're basically family. So please… Open the door and talk to me. I'm begging you."

Sophia remained quiet, her heart's steady thrum the only sound in her ears. She pulled her knees tighter to her chest, holding her legs in a tight grip. After a long moment, she spoke, her voice still muffled by the door.

"Why are you telling me this? What difference does it make?"

"I just… I wanted you to know the truth… that's why. So please come out, Sophia."

Another heavy silence passed. “Just leave me alone…” she finally said, her voice small.

Keith flinched, a silent gasp escaping his lips. He slowly pulled his hand from the door. A sad, resigned look washed over his face. “Okay, I'll leave you alone.”

He walked away, his footsteps fading slowly down the hall. As the sound grew more distant, Sophia's door opened. She darted out, her footsteps loud and frantic on the hallway floor. 

He heard the sound, turning just as she launched herself at him. She collided with his stomach, a soft, desperate impact. 

Time seemed to slow as she wrapped her arms around him, her tears soaking his shirt. They fell together, Keith landing on his back with Sophia clinging to him, her tears flowing freely.

“Thank you so much, Kei. For loving me, for caring about me, for always being there for me, thank you. I-I love you a lot, but I'm not going to force you into a relationship with me. I could have won if things had gone differently. Knowing that I was your first love makes me so happy. Thank you, Keith, thank you…”

Keith heard every word, his hand gently stroking her hair. "You're welcome, Sophia. But I should be the one thanking you. For saving me back then, and for always being a wonderful person. Sure you can be an annoying tsundere sometimes, but that's actually become part of your charm, I guess."

He chuckled softly as he continued to stroke her hair. Sophia's sobs intensified, a raw, unrestrained release of emotion. They remained there on the floor, holding each other as Sophia's radiant tears washed away the pain.